Tennis Aug 31, 2012

Photo from moo's tennis blog

Friday evening, I played tennis. My forehand and backhand were tentative, and I lapsed into my old habit of hitting without enough clearance at tense moments, especially on the backhand, even though I like to hit with topspin most of the time.

I've begun to adopt the following points to be better. Thursday night, I'll go to bed early so that I'll feel refreshed for tennis on Friday. On Sunday, I'll practice serves before the others arrive and focus on groundstrokes thereafter. Nights before bedtime, I'll play "shadow tennis", about 10 to 20 forehand, backhand and service motions. And on Friday, I'll practice my new habits during games.

My new habits are to hit forehands and backhands with enough clearance, making use of spin which I like, and especially to remember to do so at tense moments. Favor cross-court shots for more margin, remembering to hit with enough clearance. Change ball direction only when the pace of the oncoming shot allows (i.e., is slow enough). Remember to keep the body stable when preparing and hitting shots using the legs.